Around May 28, 1818

Drought and famine struck most of the Western world in 1816, and continued throughout 1817. In 1817, grain prices were 154% of the price in 1815 in the United States. In the month of January, the price of grain was nearly twice the original 1815 price. This was partially due to a low grain harvest in America, but also reflected the large amount of grain exported to Europe, where the famine was...

In mid-November, as detailed in a book he authored, Henry R. Schoolcraft came across a series of caves, big and small, in the middle of the Missouri Territory. The interesting feature about these caves was the abundance of salt petre' throughout the system. From the largest such cave, this salt petre was being harvested by Co. Ashley, who transported the product to Washington County.<br...

In explaining the treaty to the legislature, McMinn focused also on the relationship between Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as both of their relationships (and that of the United States) with the Cherokees. The Cherokees had occupied what McMinn estimated to be five to seven million acres of land between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. He encouraged the Tennessee legislature to enact...

Between the dates of September 30, 1817 and October 7, 1817, Archibald Austin of Buckingham County, Virginia was legally able to distill spirits according to the license issued by the Commissioner of the Revenue. This license enabled Mr. Austin to distill from domestic materials for one week only. The rules set forth by this license were issued by the United States, not the state of Virginia. Mr....

A book, entitled Forms of Precedents for the use of Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Coroners, and Constables in the state of Tennessee, filled with all sorts of legal forms which can handle all types of situations and can be used by many different people, was published in Tennessee (specific for Tennessee law). This book included forms for such items as mortgages, deed transfers, power of attorney...

In Augusta, Georgia, Henry Hartford Cumming released his slave Henry Todd from the bonds of slavery in 1809. However, the freed African American didn't leave the Augusta area. Instead, he waited until he could purchase and earn his path outside of the region. When Henry decided to leave, Cumming, in 1819, asked for and received the signatures of many white, male aristocrats. They all endorsed...

The Maryland, a steamboat in the Chesapeake Bay, commenced her regular route on April 12, 1820 between Easton, Annapolis, and Baltimore. The Maryland accommodated passengers, horses and carriages. The advertisement posted in The Maryland Gazette on April 6, 1820 targeted potential customers by stating that the Maryland is not surpassed in point of elegance or speed by...

Doctor Robertson had done it, and he had done it for western Virginia's Charlestown in 1817. He had discovered the most valuable medicine ever offered to the public (Farmer's Repository), a veritable cure all. Luckily, he was nice enough to share. The local Apothecary's Shop in Charlestown advertised that it would sell the phenomenal set of Doctor Robertson's Family Medicines. One...

D.B. Mitchill was the executive chair of Georgia in 1817, but in early March of that year, he resigned his post. In July of that year, he met with the leaders of the Creek Nation at Fort Hawkins. His goal of this meeting was to explain to the Indians their role in creating and maintaining a mutual peace between the Indians and the United States. He warned the Creeks that other Americans had approached...

The Zebulon M. Pike arrived in St. Louis, Missouri on August 2nd, 1817. It was the first steamboat to take the Mississippi River as far North as the Ohio River. For the people of St. Louis, and those aboard the steamboat, this was the sign of a new era in which steamboats made distant cities easily accessible, as more and more rivers became navigable. On Christmas morning 1817, the steamboat Charleston...